GCSE Maths (English curriculum)
In this post I’m sharing a set of challenging problems for GCSE Maths students that I’ve put together with the aim of helping students to improve their problem-solving skills. They’re aimed mainly at those doing the Higher Tier, but some…
Last week the exam boards published their advance information for this summer’s GCSE and A-level exams in England. They tell us what will be in the exams, but what’s harder to identify is the omissions: what won’t, and what we…
Your exam skills can make a huge difference to your mark in GCSE Maths. Believe it or not, the examiner marking your Maths exam (or any other exam) wants to give you as many marks as possible! They want to…
In this post we’re going to look at how you deal with the more difficult kinds of questions you’ll encounter on the topic of Vectors for GCSE Maths at Higher Tier. If you haven’t already read through the post on…
With some subjects, reading your notes and making mind maps and more notes about the content works well. Maths isn’t like that. Read on for some tips on effective ways to revise GCSE Maths. Tip 1: The best way to…
Vectors for GCSE Maths is one of the topics that people tend to find hardest. Some questions are very challenging even for the strongest students, but getting to grips with the basics isn’t so difficult. In this article we’re going…
The Internet is awash with GCSE Maths resources, many of them free. Read on for key information about the course, the exam and how it’s graded, and a selection of GCSE Maths resources that will help you to get a…
Can you tell, just by looking at the number 31845, whether it can be divided by 5 without leaving a remainder? How about rules of divisibility for 3 or 9 or 15: will there be a remainder if you divide…
This article is Part 2 of a two-part series. Part 1 covers all the Foundation content – basics, laws of indices, negative indices – and you can find it here. In this post we’re picking up where that one left…
What are indices, and what do I need to know about them? “Indices” is the plural of index. An index is another name for a power, also sometimes called an exponent. It’s a small number written as superscript, such as…
Once you’ve got to grips with the basic techniques involved in rounding numbers, as covered in my recent blog post, the next step is to deal with upper and lower bounds. The section down to the embedded video is required…
For both Foundation and Higher GCSE – and also for other Level 2 Maths qualifications – you need to know how to round numbers: How to round numbers by place value The first two categories could also be described as…
Are you someone who always struggled with maths at school, and has tried to avoid it ever since… but now you find that you really need to become a mature student, or adult learner, and get a Maths qualification to…
This article gives you an introduction to my sister site, mathscourses.co.uk, where you’ll find – as the name suggests – a range of maths courses to help you achieve your goals. Maths courses on the site Below are some of…
You might be a little unclear on which calculators are appropriate for which exams. The short answer is that if a calculator is permitted in an exam – at least in England – then ANY calculator is fine*, as long…
Basic skills check When I take on a new 1-to-1 tutee for GCSE Maths, the first thing I ask them to do is a basic skills check. They shouldn’t view this as a test; they can look things up and…
Remind me again, what’s BIDMAS? If you grew up in the UK then it’s likely that you’ve been taught BIDMAS or BODMAS to help you remember the order of operations – what order you should do things in – in…
